News of a little bull

May 4, 2005 - At the Last Territory Steakhouse and Music Hall,
there's a patch of gravel outside that's a different shade from the
rest. Overhead is a floodlight that has no reason to shine.

The rocks and light are all that remain of the pen where an
elderly bull ate apple pellets out of children's hands and earned
his livelihood by looking like he belonged in an Old West
movie.

That bull was Señor L.T., a Texas longhorn. He died at the
Hilton Tucson El Conquistador Golf & Tennis Resort's
cowboy-themed restaurant February at age 17.

Not far from his old spot is a new plusher pen with a shade
tree, misters, and a hiding place where a bull could presumably go
be antisocial for a while. This spot goes to the longtime mascot's
pint-sized successor, L.T. Junior.

Those who loved the senior bull as a pet might wonder how he
would have taken the upstaging.

"Señor L.T. is looking down on us and cussing at us," said Rich
Lopez, the manager at the Last Territory, the restaurant both L.T.s
are named for.

The junior calf was born on Valentine's Day and is, to the
thinking of more than a few resort staff members, a sweetheart.

"If you see the little fellow, you immediately fall in love with
him," said Shawn McGowan, the director of food and beverages at the
resort, who picked him out. "You can't help but love the little
guy."

The brown-and-white 2-month-old with stubby horns about two
inches long gets a plush pen because it is his permanent home.
Señor L.T. only lived in his pen during restaurant hours, Tuesday
through Saturday at dinner.

L.T. Junior needs to learn while he's young to interact in a
solely human world, Lopez said, and that's why he won't spend time
at the resort's stables the way the elder bull did.

Señor L.T. arrived at the resort 16 years ago as a trained adult
bull.

From the start, his bread and butter consisted of mingling with
restaurant patrons by acknowledging their presence when they got
near his pen and by licking their hands with his sandpaper
tongue.

For this, he got fed each morning, and at about 3 p.m. he got
bathed, walked to the restaurant, fed again, groomed and sprayed
with a citrus fly repellent that his caretakers called his
cologne.

Those who worked with him thought of him as an oversized puppy
dog, Lopez said.

"He could get ornery like a grumpy old man and swing his horns
around," he said. "Some days he wanted to play. Imagine that
2,000-pound animal with those horns jumping around."

But the bull seemed to become most playful during the
restaurant's special events in which he played a starring role,
Lopez said.

Every so often, a company such as Caterpillar or IBM would hold
a conference at the resort, and a group of about 500 would show up
at the Last Territory for some Old West fun.

In the restaurant's courtyard, which resembles the set of an Old
West movie, the conferencegoers would enjoy steak, country music
and Western games. On these days, the company's chief executive
officer would climb onto Señor L.T.'s back, and the two would make
a grand entrance into restaurant's courtyard.

They'd end up at the storefront façade labeled Pappy's Old Time
Photos where, Lopez said, the bull would look straight at the
camera on cue.

The bull wasn't young, though, and about a year and a half ago
he had to stop giving rides, Lopez said. He developed arthritis and
stopped hopping to his feet so eagerly for admiring guests.

"He became less and less playful, started slowing down," Lopez
said.

In February, he quietly died. Hotel staff members sent Lopez
letters acknowledging his loss of a friend.

"I'd only known him for two years, still he was like a pet,"
Lopez said.

The restaurant grounds seemed empty without the elderly bull,
but it wasn't long before an energetic youngster stepped in to try
to fill his hooves.

On April 1, L.T. Junior arrived at his posh pen, fresh from a
place called Stallion Ranch. McGowan, a past member of Future
Farmers of America, latched onto him at the ranch like one might
latch onto a pet store puppy, Lopez said.

"This was the guy that had the big eyelashes that just seemed
like he was the right fit for us," McGowan said.

A handler for L.T. Junior was procured from the Future Farmers
of America program at McGowan's alma mater, Amphitheater High
School. Every day, senior Julian Sainz takes the little one for a
walk to aid his social skills. Sainz said he's coming along.

"When I first saw him, he shied away from me, and every time I
got close he'd walk away from me," he said. "Now he let's me go
right up to him, touch him and put the halter on him. He's not as
scared of me as when I first started."

There's talk of showing the little one at the Pima County Fair
to further get him accustomed to people. The little one has a lot
to learn, but McGowan is hopeful that he has what it takes to make
Señor L.T. proud.